6.  The applicant was born in 1962 and lives in Athens.
7.  Since 1986 the applicant lives and works in Greece. He is married to a Greek woman and possesses a valid stay and work permit.
8.  On 8 September 1998, at approximately 07.00 p.m., the applicant and two other Syrian nationals accompanied a friend to the Ano Patissia police station in order to report a robbery. Having waited for a long time to be attended to, the applicant started complaining. He alleges that he was then brutally beaten on his head by a police officer, Mr Georgantzis, while another police officer, Mr Giannopoulos, was holding him still. Other police officers to whom he turned for help insulted him and locked him in an empty office for three hours. The applicant alleges that the behaviour of the police officers changed when they realised that he was legally settled in Greece. Then the applicant was allowed to leave the police station. He went immediately to the regional hospital where he was examined by a doctor at approximately 11 p.m. He obtained a medical certificate by Dr. Kremlis, an otolaryngologist specialist, which read as follows:
“[The applicant] was examined at the out-patients' department of the otolaryngology clinic on 8 September 1998 reporting a recent beating. The patient complains of buzzing, ear-pain and hearing loss in the left ear. From the clinical examination it was found that he has signs of an ecchymosis on the left zygomatic area and signs of blood on the left side of the auditory duct, which came from the injury to the area around the eardrum membrane. The extent of the damage will be determined upon completion of the remaining otoscopy tests, as the present condition does not appear to be severe.”
9.  Following the incident the applicant suffered from headaches and dizziness. On 16 September 1998 he was diagnosed as suffering from “perforation of the left ear (eardrum)”. A month later a doctor from the same hospital ascertained “an almost complete restoration of the perforation that had been noted a month ago at the tympanic membrane of the left ear”.
10.  The applicant currently suffers from hearing loss in both ears and vertigo. He has undergone several medical examinations and treatment over the last years. On 30 August 2002 a university medical doctor declared that the applicant's working capacity had diminished by 80% on account of vertigo and impaired hearing; the respective significance of these two factors was not specified. As a consequence, he was unable to accomplish any manual work.
11.  On 14 September 1998 the applicant reported the incident to the Minister of Public Order.
12.  On 10 July and 20 November 2000 the Chief of the Greek Police fined Mr Georgantzis and Mr Giannopoulos 100,000 drachmas (293 euros) and 50,000 drachmas (147 euros) respectively. He considered that the above police officers had caused bodily harm to the applicant.
13.  On 27 October 2000 Mr Georgantzis appealed against that decision but his appeal was dismissed by the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal on 30 November 2001 (decision no. 2602/2001).
14.  On 9 September 1998 the applicant filed a criminal complaint against Mr Georgantzis and Mr Giannopoulos and also against the chief of the police station, Mr Moukas. Following a preliminary inquiry, the authorities dropped the criminal charges against Mr Giannopoulos and Mr Moukas. On an unspecified date criminal proceedings were instituted against Mr Georgantzis for causing serious bodily harm. The applicant joined the proceedings as a civil party claiming a specific amount by way of damages. He produced before the court the medical reports which had recorded his injuries. Several witnesses were heard.
15.  On 19 February 2002 the three-member Athens Court of Appeal sitting as a first instance court found Mr Georgantzis guilty of serious bodily harm and sentenced him to four months' imprisonment. The court found that it had been clearly and unequivocally established by the medical reports and the other evidence before it that Mr Georgantzis had first punched the applicant and then violently slapped him on the face, causing him a scratch of approximately 3 x 0.5 cm on the left temple and a perforation of his left eardrum. It also found that Mr Georgantzis' defence “had not been sincere and did not agree with the facts” (decision no. 2048/2002). Mr Georgantzis appealed.
16.  The appeal trial took place on 18 December 2002 before the five-member Athens Court of Appeal. The court heard several witnesses, among whom Mr Giannopoulos and Mr Moukas. It found that it had not been established that the accused had beaten the applicant. It stressed that it had reached that conclusion on the basis of the statements of Mr Giannopoulos and Mr Moukas and of three additional eye-witnesses, one of whom was another colleague of the accused. It considered that the medical reports produced by the applicant were not “safe criteria for the defendant's guilt, mainly because they are directly contrary to the testimonies of the above witnesses who testify with their own knowledge and perception that the defendant did not hit [the applicant]; therefore the injuries referred to [in the medical reports] could have been caused by another reason, taken also into account that the deafness complained of [by the applicant] existed before the incident, as stated by [two eye-] witnesses”. Thus, the appeal court, by a majority, acquitted Mr Georgantzis. However, two judges opined that in view of all the evidence produced before the court the accused should have been declared guilty (decision no. 1861/2002).
17.  On 19 February 2003 the applicant, who did not have the right to appeal in cassation under domestic law, asked the Public Prosecutor to bring the case before the Court of cassation. On 24 February 2003 the latter dismissed his request.
18.  On 4 September 2003 the applicant brought an action for damages against Mr Georgantzis in the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance.
19.  On 30 June 2004 the court rejected his action (decision no. 7820/2004).
20.  On 29 September 2004 the applicant appealed to the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal. The proceedings are still pending.